Can I be convinced I've broken a brick wall?

Question

Please help me determine whether or not I have broken through a brick wall.

All we started out with regarding my great grandfather is that his name was Louis Shapiro and he was born about 1883 in England (from the 1920 US census).  This census also lists him with a married "sister" Cecilia Goodman.

So then I started searching for Cecilia SHAPIRO and found a Celia Shapiro in the 1910 US Census.  The approximate birth years match with the Cecilia in 1920 US Census. 

However, the immigration year is different.  The 1920 Cecilia is listed as having immigrated in 1913 (same as Louis Shapiro's wife and children).  The 1910 Celia is listed as having immigrated in 1907.  I do have the immigration record for Louis' wife and children and the ship's manifest did not have any Cecilia/Celia Goodman/Shapiro adjacent to them. 

Now here is where I become closer to being convinced... 1910 Census Celia is listed as living in the household of Hyman Shapiro with several other children. When I looked for this family in the 1901 England/Wales Census, I found Hyman with all those children... AND an elder son... LEWIS .... born approximately 1883.  Slightly different spelling of first name but same estimated year of birth

• Louis and Cecilia in 1920 US Census:  https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M632-WCK
• Celia in 1910 US Census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2X2-FGQ
• Hyman and Family in 1901 England Wales Census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9GZ-9SD 

So what do you think?  Should I be convinced that I have made a connection?

Comments

Don't depend on immigration dates listed on census records. Can you find the actual immigration records ?

---

Nothing yet for Celia/Cecilia.

Answer 1

Crystal,

I am often way too easily convinced, but it sure looks promising to me!  I would chase that trail!   If it's a mistake, you'll probably start running into contradictory information.  (And even then, what you have found may be connected to the family you're looking for in some other way!)

I think congratulations are in order!

Reba

Answer 2

The 1901 England census would support this is the same family and help build your case, Lewis/Louis is 18 and Celia 3 living in Manchester

Name	Age
Hyman Shapiro	42
Rebecca Shapiro	42
Lewis Shapiro	18
Betsy Shapiro	15
Yetta Shapiro	14
Jacob Shapiro	10
Leah Shapiro	7
Rachael Shapiro	6
Leopold Shapiro	5
Celia Shapiro	3

Be a little cautious though as there is a Hyman Shapiro death record in Manchester England in 1932 aged 70, so there likely have been two of a similar age unless Hyman went back to England, also a possibility?

Comments

Sorry just seen you have this!!!

Still its a very unusual name, I think you are onto something!

---

No worries, and thank you Lizzie!  I hadn't thought to also check the death records, but thats a great next step to take on this one.

---

Good luck with your searching, I think its going to be a challenging one! I think you have reasonable grounds to believe Louis and Lewis are the same person as there is a birth registration for Lewis of the right date but No records at all for a Louis, so he must have changed the spelling.

I tried to find the 1891 census for you however the family are not there. I suspect they moved to England from Russia had children Lewis and Betsy, then moved back to Russia for some reason (a little unusual for a Jewish family of this time) where they had daughter Yetta, then moved back to england in 1891 where next son Jacob was born but this was after the census was taken!

I have no idea how you would go about sourcing Russian records though, apologies.

---

Also struggling with Louis, wife and children in 1911 census, they should be there a year before they emigrated, I can only assume the name has been misspelled on the census and therefore is not being picked up on Ancestry's search engine.